Those Darlins and Turbo Fruits both hail from Tennessee. Openers The Velcro Lewis Group sound like they really like Tennessee. So, when all three came together for a night of rowdy, twangy rock music in Chicago’s Lincoln Hall, one can quickly forget this is the Midwest, on the cusp of fall. Between the stompin’, the copious cowboy boots, and the multiple mentions of Nashville, things came together perfectly, a roaring evening of Southern comfort.

First band on the stage was Chicago’s own Velcro Lewis Group, with their Yardbirds meet Howlin’ Wolf in a dark alley R&B-rock sound. Between the electric washboard, quality gear, perfect musicianship, and massive amount of sideburns onstage, the band looked like a group of guys who either met talking gear at a guitar shop or picking through the vinyl bins at a record store. The epic, dramatic warble of “Echoes of My Tears” was filled with great growling by vocalist Velcro Lewis, while the set-closing outro jam quoting Those Darlins’ “The Whole Damn Thing” rang up a whole dose of funk, courtesy of drummer/vocalist Hawk Colman.

Turbo Fruits came on next, bringing some younger, punkier energy to the room. I didn’t know it at the time, but the group features guitarist/vocalist Jonas Stein, formally of Be Your Own Pet. So that, at least in part, explains why, despite seeming pretty young, the group had plenty of bravado and technical experience to come off as powerfully and confident as they did.

The group’s high-energy performance (Stein jumped and kicked around the stage without missing a note), and high-high banter (barely understandable is a good way to put it) were a blast. The music wasn’t shabby either. The rollicking, anthemic “Mama’s Mad Cos I Fried My Brain”, off of  2009′s sadly underrated Echo Kid was a shot of punk fun, while 2007′s “Volcano” got slowed down, a classic rock riff-fest full of lines about getting stoned.

The somewhat thin crowd tripled in size by the time Those Darlins made their way out onto the stage. The now five-piece (thanks to an additional guitarist/bassist, a man whose name I didn’t quite catch) tromped on stage to mass applause. A quick one-two of the excellent “Red Light Love” and “Wild One”, both off of last year’s self-titled debut left barely a second for breath. The dancing and stomping came in pockets throughout the crowd, but those that were seemed to be having a blast. After a quick note about their upcoming followup (due sometime in the spring), the girls jumped into a batch of new songs.

The first of those was “Bro”, which featured a brilliant chorus, including the line “I just want to be, want to be your brother, you just want to be my boyfriend.” The lyrics insistence that they just want to be more than an object of desire were playful, yet strong, forceful. The rest of the new material was relatively less honky tonk, less country, but certainly just as twangy, if that makes any sense. There was a psychedelic track (that referenced Miss Cleo). There was an up-tempo, rowdy rocker about food, kind of (“That song’s called “Fatty Needs a Fix”. It’s about being too hungry to fuck.”)

Set closer and newly released A-side “Night Jogger” is a sultry, dark jam, which received the largest crowd response of the night. Then, after a brief wait for the anchor, it was as if their recently announced 7″ record had been flipped over, as the group charged into B-side “Fun Stix”. The song apparently marks the first release by a side-project of the same name, but considering this is the only time I’ve heard it, I’ll gladly attribute the raunchy punk track to Those Darlins. Lines like “I’ll bring the fun, you bring the stix, I’ll bring the pussy, you bring the dick” are just too flippant to hate, no matter how juvenile and silly. Closing the encore with “The Whole Damn Thing” and an inspired, sexy cover of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates’ “Shakin’ All Over” brought Nikki Darlin into the crowd, and the crowd into the fun. After that, venturing out into the windy evening seemed unfair. I wanted to go to Tennessee and see that show again.